Quick Takes: $115 Million Gift for Harvard, Florida A

Submitted by Doug Lederman on July 1, 2005 - 4:00am

Larry Ellison, chief executive of Oracle Corp., plans to donate $115 million to Harvard University to create an institute to study the cost effectiveness of global health initiatives, the Wall Street Journal reported. While a deal has not yet been reached, according to Harvard officials, Ellison told the Journal that the gift is "absolutely going to happen."

Florida A&M University fired 41 people -- many of them "ghost employees" who collected paychecks but never showed up for work -- on Thursday, according to The St. Petersburg Times.[1] The newspaper said that the financially troubled university would save $1.1 million annually by eliminating the positions.

University of Colorado regents adopted a "final" budget for 2006 that includes a 20 percent increase in in-state tuition, according to the Denver Post.[2] State legislators and Gov. Bill Owens, a Republican, had savaged the university last month when it announced a 28 percent rise, which regents blamed on declining state funding. The new, slightly smaller increase did not appease Owens.

Erie County College's Board of Trustees defended [3] their financial stewardship of the institution and attacked the performance of county leaders, a day after county legislators passed a budget[4] that restricted a small portion of the college's funds from being used to award raises to administrators, The Buffalo News reported. Legislators complained about the $185,498 salary, car (with gas), and country club membership of President William Mariani, which Erie County trustees said were in line with the compensation of other community college presidents.

Law enforcement officials in Durant, Miss., charged the president of Holmes Community College with embezzling more than $10,000 from the institution, the Associated Press reported.[5] The newswire reported that the investigation into the actions of Starkey Morgan was initiated after an inquiry by the college's Board of Trustees.